Apple has officially launched macOS Sequoia 15.4 for all Mac users. This new update introduces numerous features and improvements, including a redesigned Mail app, additional widgets, advancements in Apple Intelligence, and more. Here’s a overview of what’s included.
Revamped Mail app
The extensive redesign of the Mail app, which began with the iPhone, has now made its way to macOS 15.4.
The updated Mail app features a significant overhaul in how your inbox is organized.
Emails will now be categorized automatically into the following sections:
- Primary
- Transactions
- Updates
- Promotions
There is also a hidden “All Mail” view available to the right of the Promotions section.
These categories are intended to help you manage your most critical emails while keeping everything easily accessible.
In addition to this new sorting feature, the Mail app now offers:
- A Digest View that consolidates messages from the same sender into a single, organized thread
- Contact images in the inbox, akin to Apple’s Messages app
- Numerous other user interface enhancements and adjustments
If you prefer the previous version of the Mail app, Apple has provided options to disable many of these new features.
Updated Apple Intelligence features
macOS 15.4 brings updates regarding Apple Intelligence, primarily focused on enhancing language capabilities.
The Image Playground app now includes a new feature that lets users generate images in a Sketch format, joining the already available Animation and Illustration options.
Additionally, users can create a Memory movie within the Photos app on Mac, a feature that debuted on iOS last fall.
A key highlight is the considerable language expansion, with Apple Intelligence introducing eight new languages and two newly localized English variants, totaling ten new languages.
The new offerings consist of:
- French
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Spanish
- Japanese
- Korean
- Chinese (simplified)
- English (Singapore)
- English (India)
Apple Podcasts users will be pleased to discover that the app now includes new widgets in macOS 15.4.
The “Followed Shows” widget provides easy access to recent episodes of shows you follow, while the customizable Library widget can be set to display various sections of the app, such as Downloaded or Saved.
Introducing new emoji
Seven fresh emoji have been introduced to the emoji keyboard available across all Apple platforms. These include:
- Face with bags under eyes
- Fingerprint
- Leafless tree
- Root vegetable
- Harp
- Shovel
- Splatter
While AI-enabled devices can technically create custom emoji using Genmoji, Apple will continue adding new emoji to the system keyboard based on what’s approved by the Unicode Consortium. This is the latest batch from Unicode.
Quick Start feature arrives on the Mac
Apple has long provided the Quick Start feature for setting up new devices on the iPhone and iPad, allowing users to scan a code to transfer settings from one device to another.
With macOS 15.4, the Mac can now participate in the Quick Start process. The setup procedure is identical to that on other devices, with macOS presenting a code that can be scanned for transferring settings.
Excluded features: Priority Notifications and more
Regrettably, the highly anticipated Apple Intelligence feature of iOS and iPadOS 18.4—Priority Notifications—has not been included in macOS 15.4. Hopefully, a Mac-specific version of this feature is in development for a future update.
Additionally, Apple’s other platforms have introduced a new Food section with recipes and a dedicated cooking mode in the Apple News app, but these updates are notably missing from the Mac version.
macOS 15.4 conclusion
While macOS 15.4 may not boast as many features as its counterparts—iOS and iPadOS 18.4 and visionOS 2.4—it’s still a commendable release for Mac users. It’s common for the Mac to receive fewer new features compared to Apple’s newer platforms, but I hope updates like Priority Notifications will find their way to macOS soon.
What features of macOS 15.4 are you looking forward to the most? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
